Growth
by Somone New
Summary: In an alternate universe to the Doctor Who TV series, the 10th Doctor is looking for a new companion and stumbles across someone who is struglling with alien and boyfriend troubles...
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was never a good job to Brett. He'd only just scraped through secondary school and thanks to his difficult past, he'd never been able to settle down to what he deemed a proper job i.e. working at a desk and yelling at people. That was why he was now working as a janitor at a new science tech, which had literally sprouted out of nowhere, but no-one was going to question it's origins after it was revealed how much money was invested into it.

It was a late night and Brett was sweeping up after scientists had left hours before, as was usual. Brett hadn't really found himself at the tech, so was relatively unknown to the other workers. But it was when he heard a strange creaking that he started to look over towards Professor Lyn's room.

No one dared disturb Lyn's work, as he was known to be tetchy. It was rumoured he was a failed scientist, who had appealed to his rich brother to continue experiments at the tech. It was at that point that confused Brett so much. He'd never really known, nor had many people, what exactly the tech was for. As he slowly approached the door, ready to check the hinges he knew weren't creaking, he jumped out of his skin when a hand grasped his shoulder.

He turned to see none other than Professor Lyn staring half at Brett and half towards the door. "Fascinating, isn't it? Come, see" the Professor said, dragging Brett inside. Slowly but surely, Brett realised the professor thought he was looking inside, but before he could protest he was dragged into the maddening world of Professor Lyn.

Inside, an array of test tubes, tripods and different varieties of laboratory equipment was scattered amongst many tables in what looked like a disused classroom. But Brett had no time to look at these, as his eyes were drawn towards where he was being dragged to-a slightly large green pod. The reason it was slightly large was unknown to Brett and frankly he didn't care much for plants and was about to tell the professor this, when he spoke again "I think you can be very important in my experiment". This immediately silenced Brett. After several moments he replied "Me?"

"Who else?" the Professor replied "I need a... volunteer to push towards the next stage. Why if you weren't here, my project would be set back a long way" Brett suddenly felt a great amount of pride. "Tell me what you want doing and I'll do it" he said, brimming with confidence.

"Excellent" beamed the professor "Just sit down at that table and lay your hand near that pod" As he sat down; Brett wondered, "I meant to ask. What is that?" "A rare species" rebutted the professor "Some people thought it did not even exist on our planet...until now". The professor said this with almost a sneer. Suddenly Brett started to wonder what he'd got himself into.

"Now don't be scared" replied the professor, almost reading Brett's mind, scaring him even more. "So many people would love to be where you are now. You should be grateful". It was then that he turned to face Brett, holding a fairly small medical syringe. Brett turned white and started to feel ill. "I don't like injections" he half begged. "Oh shush. A big guy like you scared of injections. It's such a ridiculous possibility, I'm going to ignore it" Suddenly Brett started to get a bad feeling about this and was half rising out of his seat, when Professor Lyn pushed him down and hissed in his ear "I've waited a long time for this. Don't you _dare_ let me down" And with that, in a trance like state, Brett sat back down.

The Professor then turned towards the pod and rammed the syringe with enough force to break it, yet it only just penetrated the pod. After a huge amount of effort, a small green liquid could be seen within the syringe. "Now don't be scared Brett" the professor assured, more menacingly than before "You and I are about to make history". And without hesitation, placed the syringe on Brett's arms. He then pressed the strange substance into Brett's bloodstream. The scream coming from Brett was agonising, but the professor continued until the syringe was empty.

"Now Brett" the professor said, "Just sleep. You'll need the rest..."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 **

"Oh I'm getting so sick of you!" yelled Saph at her disgruntled boyfriend. It had never been the same since they moved in together. Since they had got the _"closeness"_ she had so dearly wanted.

Firstly, Brett had stayed out so late that she had fallen asleep three hours before he had come back. The weird thing was he hadn't even told her why. But what she did know was that he had suddenly become a professor's assistant. Why she had no idea and frankly she didn't care-anything bringing in an extra amount of money was good in her eyes. But since then he had suddenly spent all that extra money on plants. As they had passed the stage of being able to share a bed together, she had to stomp through the mini jungle that Brett had set up to get into their room. Yes, _their_ room, which Brett couldn't seem to understand. But this time he'd gone too far. He'd brought home a small green pod, which she was sure was going to be more of a nightmare. Ever since he had started to get the bloody plants, he had been watering them, giving them new soil, singing to them and she had caught him giving one of them a pep talk for some stupid reason. Now with a new plant set to be grown in their, now tiny, flat, he was going to spend less time with her than before.

"What's so bad with this little project?" Brett retaliated.

"LITTLE PROJECT?" Saph screamed, "Those flamin plants" here Brett winced "have taken over the bloody flat. Oh my god. It's almost like you're set to replant the entire rainforest. Now I'm all for protecting the environment, but this is going too far!" As she finished, Brett continued to look back and forth between Saph and the pod. He took a deep breath and said strangely calmly "Listen it's something to do with work OK. It's to do with a study the Professor and I are investigating..." But before he could finish Saph butted in "And there's another thing. Who is this Professor Lyn? How come I've never heard of him?"

Slightly taken aback, Brett replied, "You'll meet him. All in good time" But far from silencing her, he made her even angrier. "But that's not quick enough Brett. Listen Brett; I'm going for a walk. I need to take a break! From you and these wretched plants" Saying this she subsequently stormed out the door slamming the door as she went.

As Saph started to walk down the streets, a man with brown stylish hair with a brown suit suddenly grabbed her and dragged her to one side. "Hey sorry about this. I'm the Doctor and I was wondering if you've seen anything weird lately" Stunned she gave no reply. "Any flying spaceships? Metal men coming out of the sewers? Pepper pots trying to take over the world?" Recovering, she stared at him with confusion and madness "No. The only weird thing I've seen today is you!" Saying she turned and walked as quickly as she could back to the safety of the flat.

Having practiced her apology on the way back, Saph tried to get it quickly out the way as she shut the door to the flat. "So so sorry Brett. Listen I don't care..." Her apology was cut short by the scene that lay before her. Most of the plants were ripped, torn and generally battered. If they had not been damaged, they were knocked over. But her eyes were drawn to an ajar bedroom door. As she hurried to the door, she saw what she was dreading. The window was smashed and a small pile of leafs had been left below the window. And the worst thing of all - no sign of Brett. "What the hell happened?" she exclaimed.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Overall, it had been an easy break-in, the Doctor worryingly thought. The thought made him sound like a criminal, which he wasn't - he was merely a traveller. Albeit a traveller who always seemed to get caught up in wars and tyrannies and various problems, which of course he could solve, because he was great. A traveller who was now alone, now that she'd left.

Anyway, the TARDIS had locked onto a 'familiar alien species' but for some reason was not sure what it was exactly. So the Doctor had resorted to waiting on the streets of London, a place he knew well and was now bored by, asking random passers by if they'd spotted anything suspicious. Remembering that afternoon wasted, he thought of that girl who had insulted him. Maybe it was a gut feeling, maybe a Time Lord prediction or maybe it was just an upset stomach, but something about that girl made him feel relaxed. Albeit he only knew for less then a minute and she had called him a weirdo. Nevertheless he had a feeling that they would meet again and soon.

So he had found no answers from the general public, as he expected, but he did notice an extremely modern building nearby. It was almost too modern for the Doctors' liking. In the series of events that had followed, the Doctor had manage to use his sonic screwdriver to unlock the window and access the personnel files, to see if there were any suspicious new arrivals.

It was late at night, yet the Doctor was still worried about being caught and while flicking through the massive files like a picture book, one photo caught his eye.

Taking out the file, he looked at the picture with interest. It showed a man with a bit of a stubble and short-cropped hair, with a familiar blonde woman, both with startling blue eyes. It was the girl that the Doctor had met in town. Suddenly that strange feeling increased. Maybe she was linked with this alien source. He read the file thoroughly. It seemed it belonged to a Brett Thomson, a cleaner. "That's odd" the Doctor said aloud, something he did quite often now "Who has a file on a janitor?"

Tucking the file away in his many pockets to read later, the Doctor headed towards the door, which he discovered was already open. A man with an obvious comb over of his shiny black hair and wearing goggle like glasses stood in the doorway, staring at the Doctor.

"Ah" said the Doctor, flustered "Well, I was just leaving, as you can see. Um. How long have you been standing there?"

With a blank face the man replied "You do realise there is a camera a couple of metres above your head?" The Doctor looked up and then looked back confused. "And to the left"

"Oh" realised the Doctor and asked, "SO what are you going to do with me?"

"All I want to know is why your here" replied the emotionless man.

"Well Mr...." asked the Doctor.

"Lyn. Professor Lyn" the man answered.

"Oh your a professor! Brilliant! What are your studies based on?" questioned the Doctor excitedly.

"You have not answered my question," replied the Professor coldly. With a stunned expression the Doctor replied, "Didn't I? How rude! I'm still not used to being rude. Well I came here to answer my previous question: What are you doing here?"

The Professor suddenly relaxed. This pleased the Doctor; he liked taking people off guard. "You say you are a Doctor. What do _you_ specialise in?"

"Oh all sorts," replied the Doctor flippantly.

"How do you feel about plants?" Confusion registered on the Doctor's face and disappeared just as quickly.

"Well I'm no Alan Titchmarsh but I get by" The Doctor said with a grin. He got no grin back.

"Right. Well, let's see what you make of this" Saying this the Professor subsequently left the room. Off put and confused, the Doctor slowly followed him. They ended up inside a messy laboratory, though it was plain to see that someone had tried to tidy it up and generally look more organised. But what drew the Doctors eye was a small computer screen. What was so interesting about the screen was that it was showing a human body but the DNA usually inside the human body was different somehow but the Doctor couldn't quite think what. Luckily the Professor did.

"_Fascinating_ isn't it?" breathed the Professor. The Doctor looked from the screen to the Professor, slightly worried as he noticed the mad glint in his eye.

"Well I'm sure it is. One question: What is it?" Worryingly the Doctor didn't see the glint go away.

"Oh it is probably far beyond you Doctor" sneered the Professor.

Slightly irritated the Doctor swiftly replied at his usual 100mph speed "Really? Because it seems to me the genetic instructions are changing, causing the nucleotides to expand, reacting the guanine and thymine dangerously turning into something almost..." suddenly the Doctor was worried. Turning to the Professor made it worse, as the mad glint was now worse. "Your diagnosis then Doctor?" queried the Professor "Turning into something…non-human" the Doctor concluded. Looking around the laboratory, the Doctor tried to find something familiarly alien.

"What is your point Doctor?" interrupted the Professor. The Doctor ignored him, deep in thought. The TARDIS had locked onto a familiar alien species, which the Professor must have extracted genes from. But the question was what was it. Suddenly his search drew him to a green plant pod. Horror covered the Doctor's face.

"Where did you get that pod?" the Doctor hissed. The Professor followed the Doctor's gaze and immediately swept over to the pod, blocking it from view.

"That pod is none of your concern" the Professor ordered.

Raising himself to his full height, The Doctor reacted "Oh but it _is_ of my concern. Because if that pod is what I think it is, then you have just endangered the entire plant and possibly all life in this universe" The reaction he got was to say the least, unexpected. There was no fear in the Professor's eyes - only eagerness and a fanatical desire to be great. He was a lost cause. Under the Professor's watchful gaze, the Doctor strode out of the room.

"That Doctor won't stop my experiments. It's only a plant pod. Albeit an alien one. I mean a plant destroying life on Earth, it's like something out of Dr..." But he was cut off, as a shadow that had slowly been crossing the room behind the Professor had found it's target and completed his 'mission' - eliminate all opposition. While the Professor lay on the floor screaming in pain, the being already knew who the next target was - something familiar to it - a man in a stripy brown suit...


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Honestly, I don't know how you put up with him" said June. Saph shrugged in response. June had been a loyal friend ever since Saph's first day at the call centre. Saph and June sat next to each other and it was a wonder to everyone else how they ever got any work done, as all they seemed to do was talk to each other about anything but the product they were supposed to be selling. Yet it was well known that they were some of the most successful sellers in the entire company. This probably excused them from occasionally chatting to one another.

Saph had just filled June in about hat had happened two days ago; a few hours after Brett's disappearance, he had returned with dried blood on his hands. Initially Saph had not noticed this until she went to hug him after apologising to him. "What's this? Is...is that blood?! Brett, what happened?" He had explained he had thought about what Saph had said and had tried to throw some of the plants out the window. But stupidly, he had picked up a plant that was too big for him and had tried to throw it out the window without first opening the window and subsequently he was shattered with glass. He had rushed to the hospital, which had healed his wounds and then came back.

But there was one thing that Saph had not mentioned to June that continued to play on her mind as she got back to work - the last two days, Brett had been very distant. On weekends the science tech was shut, so Brett had two days off. While Saph intended for them to go on a trip to Birmingham or somewhere, Brett had slunk off to who knows where. She dreaded to think of where he went, but after what had happened after their last row, she wasn't going to cause trouble again.

Nick, one of the few other friends she had within the work place, disturbed Saph's thoughts, telling her she had a phone call. Taking the phone, Saph said "Hello?"

There was silence, then an answer "Saph. It's me...Brett"

Something was wrong - there was no emotion in his voice or at least it sounded it.

"Saph?"

Saph woke up. "Sorry. Must be a bad connection. Um... sorry, what did you want?" Again silence, followed by an answer with less emotion than before, if that was possible. "Work's called, there's been an accident. You need to come here now" The last sentence wasn't a request - it was an order.

"Uhh, Brett, I'm at work"

The usual silence

"I know. But it's important. You need to come here **now**!"

He hadn't shouted at her had he? He almost never shouted. Brett was so determined to forget his past, when he used to shout to get what he wanted. "OK Brett. I'll be there as quick as I can" She hung up and turned to June, tapping on her shoulder. "Hey June, can you tell Baron I've gone to meet Brett? Apparently, there's been an accident"

"Sure" June replied.

As Saph entered the lift, a man in a brown striped suit rushed to June.

"Hey I'm Dr. John Smith. I need to talk to a Ms." he paused to look at the slip of paper in his inside pocket "Saphire Blume"

June looked up, as if she only just noticed the Doctor "Huh? Oh sorry you just missed her"

The Doctor's face fell. "Oh. Right. I don't suppose you can tell me where she's gone do you"

" No sorry. It's...sort of confidential"

The Doctor nodded and walked away solemnly. He was too late. What was going to happen now, he had no idea, but he had to find that Saphire girl again. If he didn't, she and the entire planet could have their life on the line.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sitting on the sofa, half-listening to the radio, Saph was thinking the same thoughts she had been thinking the last few hours - what had happened to Brett?

When she found out about Professor Lyn's murder (according to the police, he had been strangled, with an inhumanly firm grip), she had been naturally shocked but was more concerned of Brett's lack of emotion. She had never met Professor Lyn but from what little things Brett said of him, Brett highly regarded him, so why did he seem not to care?

Well, she cared. Now that the Professor was dead, Brett was back to his dead-end cleaners job. Despite his previous hatred of the job, now he seemed to take it in his stride.

And there lay another problem; Brett wouldn't open up. This was not the Brett she had first met all those years ago. Her Brett wasn't obsessed with plants; even now he was stroking a certain type of plant. She didn't know the name, but it had long leaves. Looking at them, Saph foolishly let a small tear escape from her eye.

That was it. She didn't care what he did now. She had had enough of his weird behaviour and was determined to sort it out. So she got up and stormed over to her 'boyfriend'.

"Listen Brett. These last few days, you have treated me like I never existed. Even these stupid plants are treated better than me!" Yelling this, Saph was furious to see Brett hadn't even flinched. So angry was she, she kicked a nearby plant, knocking it over and smashing the pot. It was then that Brett looked up, but not at Saph but at the fallen plant. He immediately crouched by it and held like he would a dead body. He then turned to Saph with killer eyes.

"You killed her," he breathed. Saph was stunned. Brett carried on; slowly yelling "You **know** how important these plants are to me"

Suddenly Saph piped up, screaming at him "That's the problem! I DON'T! You don't talk to me anymore! If you did, I wouldn't have kicked the stupid plant!"

Suddenly, as Saph looked into Brett's eyes, she suddenly saw something human in them for the first time in a long time. But it wasn't a pleasant expression - it looked like someone trying to escape but not knowing how. "Help Me," whispered Brett, dripping with desperation.

"You need it" The words were escaping before she realised it. She had just seen Brett - the real Brett. The Brett she had been living with these past few weeks had not been the real Brett, an imitation, nothing more. And this infuriated her and she had to take that anger out somehow. "You're a freak" It happened before she knew it. All she knew was that the real Brett had disappeared almost as quickly as he had appeared. And as he disappeared and as she finished speaking, someone using Brett's hand raised it and slapped it across her face. As she lay on the floor, she started to sob. Not because of the pain, it wasn't even the slap, not really. It was the blank expression on 'Brett's' face, no regret or sorrow anywhere.

Slowly she stood up and walked into their room and started packing. Afterwards she rang June saying she was staying at her place

"How long for?" asked June.

"Until I get Brett back" replied Saph. As she stood at the door, her hand on the handle, she turned to look at whatever had replaced her boyfriend. Unsurprisingly, he was stroking the plant again. She absorbed the scene and opened the door, slowly shutting the door as quietly as she could.

Standing outside her flat, she shuddered despite it being early summer. Seeing a plant pot near the door, she made her last revenge, despite the small impact it may make. She kicked the plant pot, smashing the pot and tipping its entire contents onto the floor. "Stupid plants" she spat "You've ruined my life" She stormed off to June's place, a few floors down. As she stormed off, she missed the supposedly dead plant slowly creep towards a nearby window...


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As Saph exited the flat, Brett relaxed. Well, his mind did. Since that stupid experiment, he had started hiding into himself. Of course, he didn't want to be trapped inside his mind, but it seemed there was nothing he could do, as a strange... well there was the thing. He couldn't describe it, but all he knew was that "it" had taken over his physical body and most of his mind as well. Because of this, he had been forced to metaphorically sit back and watch what "it" was doing with his body.

It wasn't only a surprise, what it was doing, but it was outrageous. He, "it", had done things he didn't dare have nightmares about. Things he couldn't bear thinking about. All he did know was that "it" was strangely attracted to plants. All this had happened in the span of over a week and during that time, he had been trying to figure out what the hell was going on, while also trying to find a way of recapturing his physical and mental self. And he had succeeded.

For one moment, he had managed to plead Saph for help. But she had ignored him, causing him to lose morale and lose control. To be honest, he didn't totally disagree with what "it" did to her. But now, he was regretting his moment of weakness. Now Saph hated him even more and there surely no way she was ever going to come back.

What was he doing? He would never get back his body if he kept thinking stuff like this. Then a familiar buzzing sound started. The buzzing always came whenever "it" was starting to change. Though what this change was he didn't know. All he knew was that the feeling around him was different then to what he was used to. One thing he had figured out was that whenever the buzzing started and the change began, it started taking bits of himself from him – mentally and maybe physically, being trapped in his mind he wasn't sure.

But the buzzing was louder than before, almost a voice, with words he couldn't make out. Well he was ready to fight. He'd managed to hold it off before, though only slightly. But the buzzing was enormous and he suddenly started to feel a sort of sensation, like something was closing in on him. Suddenly he got a brief look outside his mind – the plants that "it" had brought with _his_ money, were surrounding him. Suddenly he realised – whatever "it" was, it was going to take all of him and this time there was no escape. In one desperate attempt of rebellion, he thought the equivalent of yelling "No! I deny you!" As he slowly disappeared, he understood what the buzzing was saying: "It begins"

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Please review, it's my first fanfic and i would like to know what your views are


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The summer sun hung over the Earth, attempting to provide happiness and enjoyment to the people below and certainly you would've thought so, as kids played on swings, laughing with their parents, teenagers laughed at how silly life was with their friends, while the adults took advantage of the period of relaxation they now had. However there were two very unhappy people about to collide on a storey in a block of flats.

"Damn these steps" muttered Saph, as she finally reached the floor June's flat was located. It was harder then it looked lugging a small but surprisingly heavy suitcase down three flights of steps. She looked towards the doors of the separate flats, looking for the number of June's flat. As she was busy searching, she failed to get out of the way of a brown figure, rushing towards the stairs. This resulted in an inevitable collision, leaving them both on the hard concrete floor.

"Do you mind?" berated Saph.

"Yes I do!" replied the figure, steadily rising to his feet "You've dirtied my suit!"

As the figure rose, Saph got a good look at him form her position from the floor. It took her a while but she suddenly recognized him.

"You!" she said in a moment of realization, "You're that weirdo in town!"

"I'll have you know…" He stopped in mid-flow. "Wait a minute…" He stuck his hand into one of his pockets and pulled out a file. He opened it and stared at something on the page, before putting the file back into his pocket with a big grin on his face. "Ms. Sapphire Blume, I've found you at last!" Saying this he grabbed her hand and gave a hearty handshake.

As Saph tried to pull her hand away, she replied, "How do you know my name? Anyway, it's Saph, never Sapphire" She made an effort of spitting out the last word.

"Oh well if we're getting names right, I'm not weirdo, I'm the Doctor" he said in a light telling off manner.

"Hey, stick to the subject!" Saph demanded, "How do you know my name?"

"That's not important" dismissed the Doctor and before she could interrupt, informed her "Listen you may have knowledge that could save millions of lives on this planet and many others"

"Oh really?" scoffed Saph, "Well at the moment, I'm in a bit of a crisis. My boyfriend is cheating on me with a number of plants and I just want to get to my friends flat, so I can flood it with tears. After a few weeks of that, I'll probably be ready to answer any questions that you may have" There was a moment of stunned silence, broken by an inappropriate question by the Doctor; "Did you say plants?"

In her current mood, Saph would've killed someone for asking that but the horrified look on the Doctors face made her very nervous. "Yeah…why?" she said nervously. The Doctor remained frozen, before quickly asking her "Where's your flat?"

Pointing up the steps, Saph replied "Um, three floors up, its number 10 but why…" But her question was left unsaid as the Doctor charged up the steps. Abandoning her suitcase, Saph quickly charged after him, back to the place she least wanted to go.

Saph managed to reach her floor only a few seconds behind the Doctor and managed to reach him, just before he started to look for her flat door. "Wait! I don't want to go back…in there" Saph pleaded.

The Doctor turned to face her, a serious expression on his face. "Listen Saph, do you care about Brett at all?"

"Well yeah, but…something's gone wrong lately. He's acted so distant lately and…Oh my god!" While wondering what had exactly gone wrong with Brett lately, her gaze had drifted towards the door to her flat, which was currently barely hanging on its hinges. After her shocked scream, the Doctor also looked towards what remained of the door. Leaving no time to waste, he rushed into the flat, with Saph following him at almost twice the speed.

While the Doctor had rushed into the flat without a care, Saph spent a great deal of time standing in the doorway, surveying the devastation in shock. It was chaos inside; all the plants lay lifeless on the floor, all the furniture were tipped over into extraordinary positions, the wallpaper was ripped and, oddly, there was a small pile of leaves near a sofa on its side. This was where the Doctor was kneeling now; investigating one of the leaves through his newly attired glasses. "Oh dear, this is not good, nothing about this is good" he muttered gloomily.

"What's so bad about a leaf?" enquired Saph.

"Hm?" said the Doctor, looking up to Saph from his position. He subsequently whipped off his glasses and looked back and forth from Saph and the pile of leaves as he spoke "If it was an ordinary Earth plant, nothing would be bad, except for the fact that someone has been inconsiderate enough to damage an innocent plant. However! This is not a plant from here or even anywhere near here I would expect…this plant is alien"

* * *

Out of interest, I wonder if anyone has spotted a quote from a former doctor


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Saph gave the Doctor a look of bewilderment "Alien?" she said.

"Oh yes!" the Doctor boomed.

"So…where did it come from?" Saph may not have been the cleverest person in the room, but she knew the Doctor knew the answer to that question from his solemn look. But this quickly vanished along with the rest of him, as he rushed towards the door. Saph span round yelling "Hey, where are you going?"

The Doctor was already outside the door, when he turned to her quickly asking, "Where's the nearest place holding a lot of people?"

Saph's look of concern quickly changed to thought, "Well, there's the hospital…"

"Perfect" said the Doctor "How far away?"

"Um…about ten minutes walk"

The Doctor was already running as he replied "Even better" Saph quickly picked up what was happening as she chased after him. As she ran behind him, she yelled "Why? What's so great about the hospital?"

Just before he started jumping down the stairs 3 at a time, he yelled back "If I'm right, it's not great at all!"

As Saph caught up with the Doctor at the bottom of the stairs leading out to the street, she turned to him and asked, ever so slightly panting "Do you always run off when someone's having a conversation with you?"

Looking up both ways of the street, the Doctor said carelessly, "Pretty much. Which ways the hospital?" he asked turning to Saph.

"Oh no you don't. Not 'till you tell me what the hell is going on. Where did this 'alien' plant come from?"

"Well it's not from Peckham is it!" the Doctor said irritably.

"Doctor…"

The Doctor grinned. " It's a Krynoid"

"A what?" asked Saph.

"A galactic weed. They start life as a pod and then blast off into space, searching for planets with the right conditions to grow. As it gets exposed to these good conditions, it starts to grow. But to grow, it also needs to feed"

During this explanation, Saph had been listening in awe but here she interrupted. "Feed?"

The Doctor expressed a grim face. "Yep. But as the Krynoid grows, it needs more to eat. And bigger things too"

The penny finally dropped for Saph. "The hospital!"

"Exactly. This way is it?" said the Doctor running down the street.

Trying to hide a grin, Saph yelled after him, "Uh…this way actually!"

"What do we do now?" asked Saph. They had arrived at the hospital and were now standing just inside the entrance, watching the nurses and doctors doing their daily routine. Nothing to suggest a mad half man half plant being had stormed through looking to feed.

Saph said as much to the Doctor, to which he replied, "Wait here" and he subsequently squeezed his way through towards the receptionists desk. Through the bustle of people, Saph could not see what was happening, but when the Doctor returned, he had a look on his face like when a child has been told off.

"Well?" Saph queried, preparing herself for a lame excuse.

"Well" the Doctor said "All I asked was if a madman, with green skin had been in here recently and she called me mad!"

Struggling to contain her laughter, Saph gave him a bemused look and said, "Let me have a go" and promptly squeezed herself towards the receptionist's desk.

Fortunately, Saph knew the receptionist, Leah, from college and so managed to get on her good side. But when she asked about Brett and whether he had been seen with leaves growing out of him, Leah only mentioned that she had seen him painted green and, having spotted him, given him a pound, thinking he was doing a sponsored fancy dress or something. He had ignored her and had headed straight for the stairs but had no idea where he was going. Thanking Leah, Saph slithered as fast as she could back to the Doctor.

Once the Doctor heard the news, he rushed towards where Brett had been last seen. As she was ready this time, she managed to match his speed and catch him up on the stairs. As she reached his level, she asked, "Doctor, how do you know where he's going?"

"From its actions, I'd say it's hungry. In fact I'd say it's very hungry. It's won't just pick random patients. They'd just be a snack. I think it's going to consume the hospital." The Doctor said melancholy, without breaking sweat or looking at Saph. Saph didn't stop or slow down but carried on in her horror.

"The entire hospital?" she asked.

"Unless we stop it." said the Doctor, quickly turning his head to flash her a quick grin, before he resumed his original pace. Saph still didn't really know where they were going but was too scared to ask and so followed the Doctor up the never-ending stairs.

Eventually, the Doctor stopped in front of a dull looking door, Saph screeching to a halt behind him. Hearing this, The Doctor turned to her. "Are you alright?" he said with a concerned expression.

"Yeah," Saph said with a sigh "its just…there's been a lot to take in today"

A grin spread over the Doctors face. "I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to that" Saph returned the grin. Satisfied, the Doctor pushed open the door and rushed across the roof searching for the Krynoid in Brett's body, Saph following swiftly behind.


	9. Chapter 8

_Sorry about the delay, hope it's worth it. We're gradually approaching the end, so it would be nice what everyone thinks of Growth so far :)_

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Chapter 8

The rooftop showed a good view of the small are below as people busied about below, no-one even thinking of looking up, which perhaps was no bad thing, as they would've received a hell of a shock. Not only was there two strangers on the roof, which was strange in itself but a giant plant from another world pushed it so far beyond normal, it would crick it's metaphorical neck trying to find the border between normal and abnormal. It didn't take long before the Krynoid was spotted, as it was the only living thing apart from the Doctor and Saph on the roof. "Brett!" yelled the Doctor. It didn't turn around. "Why did you do that?" asked Saph.

"To see if there was still something left of Brett." The Doctor replied grimly. He then started marching towards it.

Saph grabbed his arm. "Wait! What do you think you're doing?"

The Doctor looked down on her with a look of disbelief and answered as if it was obvious, "I'm going to talk to it."

Saph matched his look of disbelief with her own. "An alien plant that wants to eat the Earth is over there and you want to talk to it? What the hell are you going to say?"

"Keep it simple" Saying this, the Doctor fiddled with his coat and stepped across the rooftop towards the fearsome creature, asking as loud as he could to grab the creature's attention, "Oi! What do you think you're doing?" Saph shook her head at the unsophisticated action, but it worked as the Krynoid seemed to look towards the Doctor and all that Saph could do was watch and worry.

By now, Brett had totally disappeared and in his place was an enormous green Krynoid. Despite it's mammoth size, over 10 feet, it was only half it's potential and the Doctor knew this, but that wasn't going to stop him. "Answer me!" he demanded.

A strange buzzing noise entered the air that the Doctor managed to recognise as words elongated. "Who are you to expect explanations of me?"

There was a pause, as the Doctor thought of an answer where he could avoid getting into more trouble. "I'm here to help. Well mostly I'm here to listen and I am waiting, rather impatiently might I add, for you to justify yourself."

The Krynoid seemed to notice the Doctor as a person at that moment. "You can help?" it asked pitifully slowly.

The Doctor was taken aback slightly by this. He couldn't think why this relentless beast needed help, but if it would avoid more killings, he was willing to take the chance. "Maybe. Why, what's the problem?"

As Saph stood there, she was completely stunned with disbelief, so much in fact she didn't realise hat she had been watching the unbelievable scenes with her mouth wide open. Just when she had thought she had finally decided what kind of man the Doctor was, a man with all the information needed to deal with a bad situation, he went and did something like this, confronting a giant alien about to consume, well everything pretty much. As she determinedly walked over to the odd pair, desperate to know what was going on, Saph decided who the Doctor really was, someone who went running into a scenario which would require his help regardless of the danger awaiting him. Though of course, chances were he would soon do something completely out of this character.

When she reached the Doctor, a bristling silence welcomed her, as the two beings stared at each other in anticipation. At least she guessed the Krynoid was staring at the Doctor, without being able to see any eyes on it, it was hard to tell. Deciding to lighten up the situation, Saph asked innocently, "So, things going well then?"

The Doctor span around with initial anger at being disrupted from his one sided staring contest, before realising who had interrupted and replaced his annoyed look with a sheepish grin. "Not that bad. Well, better than expected. Well, it hasn't said anything for a long time, so I don't really know."

Saph returned the grin, before asking, letting out a sigh, "Doctor, what are you trying to do? This thing, Krynoid or whatever, has already killed two innocent people for getting in the way. What makes you different from them?"

The Doctor absorbed the question before responding, "I'm different. I've faced Krynoids before and know how they usually behave. And I have to admit in this case, it' acting a bit extreme. I need to know what's wrong with it."

"But why?" asked Saph exasperatedly, "Why are you doing this? How do you know so much about aliens and stuff? Who are you Doctor?"

There was a silence as the Doctor pondered Saph's outburst. He eventually decided to tell her what she wanted to know. She was a bright woman, she'd understand or at least she should by now anyway.

"I'm a Time Lord from a planet a long long way away and…doesn't exist anymore." Saph's heart ached at the mournful expression of his face and voice as he said this.

"I was known as a bit of a rebel amongst my race. I never feared to interfere in places where they didn't dare touch with their lily white gloves." He gave a little smirk as he said this. It provided a certain sense of nostalgia of his rebellious former self.

"But I still did it and I've carried on ever since. I defend the innocent amongst a world of evil. There are a lot of nasty things in this universe; I know I've faced many of them many times. I've faced Krynoids before and it wasn't pleasant. But I've met worse and I'll probably meet worse too. Now have I left anything out? Nope that's it"

Satisfied with his answer, the Doctor waited for a response from Saph with a grin.

Saph, however, was listening intently to a buzzing noise that had filled the air. "What's that noise?" she asked.

The Doctors ears pricked up to the sound. "Oh it's the Krynoid" he said carelessly. There was a beat before the Doctor suddenly spun round, yelling in a loud, slightly high-pitched voice, "Oh the Krynoid! Sorry could you repeat that?"

The buzzing returned, increased in volume and pitch and as it spoke, Saph managed to decipher the words it was uttering, "I must feed. I am far too small. Far too inferior. I must feed." The Doctors eyes widened in shock and Saph restrained a scream, resorting to a gasp of horror, as two long vines slowly made their way from the Krynoids body, along the floor and towards them, searching for prey.

While Saph started to back away, the Doctor stood his ground and bellowed at the top of his voice, "Wait! I'm here to help! Let me help you! Please!"

The vines continued persistently as the Krynoid informed the Doctor, "I must feed. I need no help"

"But that's not what you said earlier!" The disbelief was evident in his voice. "Come on, who else can help you on this dumb planet? Sorry" the Doctor said in an aside to Saph before carrying on, "Please. You know you want to."

The vines paused as the Krynoid thought the request over. "I must feed" it admitted sorrowfully. The Doctor waved his hand to carry on. "Worlds are disappearing. It took so long to find a planet with the nutrients I require. I must feed."

The Doctor shook his head disapprovingly. "I understand, trust me. But you can't consume this planet, there's already life here…Hold on, worlds are disappearing?"

But the Krynoid cared nothing about worlds disappearing, they wouldn't help it grow, they wouldn't help it grow stronger ad it told the Doctor as such, "But they provide such glorious food! Iron, calcium and more, they can help me grow! Without food I shall die!" As it remembered who it was talking to, it added, "I would've thought you'd be sympathetic Doctor."

"I would be normally but there are innocents involved in this. If I let you carry on, this simple planet will have had all its potential squandered."

The Krynoid let out a strange but recognisably cry of anger and the vines returned to life, having previously been lying pitifully along the roof, speedily heading towards the Doctor and Saph. While they had been dormant, Saph had come closer to them, thinking that the initial danger had passed, but now she once again started backtracking to safety. Once more the Doctor stood his ground, "Listen to me. Lend me your ears and all that. Incidentally how many ears do Krynoids have? No no, listen…" But the Doctors pleas fell on deaf non-visible ears and more vines shot out of the Krynoid straight towards the Doctor, as they attempted to cease the prattling noise. Realising his words were not being recognised, the Doctor bade a hasty retreat with a yell that he had yelled too many a time, "Run!"

Saph did not hesitate and hurried after him, as they got ready to flee down the stairs, away from the hungry wailings of the Krynoid.

They had reached the ground floor safely, but had received strange looks from the people there, blatantly oblivious to the horrid alien on the roof. The Doctor knew though that as soon as people from outside saw it, and judging by its size they wouldn't need to get close to the hospital to see the green beast, word would spread and panic with it. He always hated panicked crowds and wanted to stay as far away from the centre of one as possible. As such he dragged Saph as far away from the hospital as he could.

Eventually they arrived just outside Saph's flat, where the balcony gave a lovely view of the city bustling around it. However this view was ruined by the visible, giant Krynoid atop the hospital and the panicking crowds of people surrounding the building. It was clear that the Krynoid had completely devoured the rooftop and it seemed that there was no chance that the hospital could be saved and for that matter the Earth. As the Doctor sipped a cup of tea, Saph worryingly asked, "Doctor, I know it looks bad, but you said you dealt with it before. Well, what are you going to do now?"

The Doctor looked at the enemy over the rim of his cup with frustrated eyes but try as he might, all he could say was, "I don't know. I'm sorry Saph, I really don't know"


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Saph watched the Doctor brooding in a wooden chair, his arms leaning on the surface of the table she and Brett used to have dinner together. They had just finished re-organising the flat, returning all the furniture to its original position, basically just cleaning it up, trying to find a distraction from the chaotic scenes outside. They had numbly stood there on the balcony and watched as the Krynoid started to devour the hospital. Eventually they could stand no more and retreated into the flat, the monstrosity of it all pushing them inside. It had just begun to use its long, thick arm-like vines to pick up random people staring and fearing it outside the hospital, swiftly grabbing and consuming them in one foul sweep. Since then they had not said a word, neither of them daring to break the uncomfortable silence.

As Saph sat down on the opposite of the small circular table, she looked at the Doctor sympathetically. Despite his youthful appearance, his eyes looked tired with age, aching from the amount of memories and sadness he must have experienced. It frightened her that today, to him, was just another day of woe.

All of a sudden she got a full blast from those eyes as the Doctor raised his head at her presence, no longer staring at the simplicities of tea. "I'm sorry Saph" he said mournfully.

Saph reached for his hand sympathetically. "Hey, don't worry. You did your best. Anyway I wouldn't have thought you would be someone who gives up easily."

The Doctor withdrew his hand, as he stood up and started pacing around the flat, his hand ruffling his hair. "I know!" he announced frustratingly, "Events have spiralled out of control sooner than I expected! I can't think of any way I can stop the Krynoid now!"

"But I thought you dealt with them before, why don't you just do what you did last time?" Saph asked.

"Oh no, I got U. N. I. T. to blow it up last time and I don't want to get involved with them again now" the Doctor answered dismissively. Saph lay back in the chair racking her brains for an idea, while the Doctor returned to pacing.

As Saph sat there watching the Doctor slowly go insane, an idea came into her head, which seemed obvious, but she had doubts whether the Doctor would agree to it.

"Doctor.." Saph asked. The Doctor however, was busy muttering to himself fruitless ideas. "Doctor!"

He looked up and realised she had an idea, producing a faked grin. "Go on then Ms. Blume. What's the idea?" Satisfied that she would be heard, she returned his grin with one of her own in a reassuring manner, before explaining, "Before Brett…changed, he talked about this Professor…Something or other"

"Lyn?" interrupted the Doctor, eyes widening in surprise.

"Yeah! You know him?" asked Saph, raising her eyebrow curiously.

"Well we've had words, let's leave it at that" said the Doctor offhandedly.

Saph started to wonder if the Doctor was involved somehow with the Professors murder. Death seemed to be something that tagged the Doctors heels quite fondly, whether he liked it or not. Deciding not to pursue such an uncomfortable subject, Saph decided to bring the conversation back to the subject that was most important, dealing with the Krynoid, "Anyway, Brett seemed to spend a lot of time with him and I wondered. Maybe he had something to do with all this?"

The Doctors face fell into a grim expression. He sat back down into the chair beside the table and gave Saph a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid he was." He sighed, "He possessed the original Krynoid pod, where he got it from, I have no idea. He was conducting experiments with it. From what I saw in his lab when I visited it, he seemed to be trying to combine Krynoid and human DNA and the result, well you know." The guilt was clear in the Doctors voice, as the information hit Saph. As he had explained how Professor Lyn was involved with the horrific events that had interrupted Saph's life, the Doctor realised that he was effectively telling her that Professor Lyn had murdered her boyfriend and to make his conscience ache even more, she had realised it too.

Her eyes dimmed as her mind escaped the misery of reality and into the joy that her memories brought. The day she'd met him, their first date, their first kiss, the night they gave each other something special, all the times he made her laugh, all the times he made her smile…"Saph? Can you hear me?" asked the distant voice worriedly, trying to break through the barrier that Saph's had built around her.

She blinked as she returned to reality, to see the Doctor with a worried and guilty look. She smiled. "I'm fine. Really." She said reassuringly. But the Doctor wasn't convinced and kept on looking at her concerned. Once again, Saph decided that they needed to focus on the matter at hand. "Well if Professor Lyn was so interested in plants, isn't it logical that he might have the answer to the giant green problem currently eating the hospital?"

Saph's swift recovery slightly stunned the Doctor. It had taken him a long time to recover from the death of his entire race; in fact he still struggled to cope with that fact time to time. Even though Saph's experience with death stealing a loved one was not on such a grand scale as his was, it was still a lot to cope with. To the Doctor, this showed how severe the situation was, that Saph was willing to focus on saving the planet even though she was going through a tough time. The Doctor decided if Saph could put on this stern attitude, then he should be able to too. As such, he swiftly replied, "Yes it is very logical" Realising what she had just said, the Doctor leapt up, knocking over the chair he had been sitting up and making Saph jump out of her skin, yelling, "Of course! My God, we need to get to those labs as soon as possible!" Saying this, he rushed out the door, before running back in, asking, "Well come on then!"

A dark cloud hovered above the laboratory, which had fallen into disuse since the head professor died and the finances had dried up. The Doctor and Saph watched this gloomy snapshot of the modern building, before making their way towards the entrance.

As Saph followed the Doctor down the empty corridors, she looked around at her surroundings. She had never visited Brett at work and it struck her that she didn't really know why. While she'd never been interested in science, surely it would've made sense for her to come down and visit Brett at work. Maybe the looming building had intimidated her when she had tried to see him. It gave her shivers now, even when she had only stood in its shadow. As they approached the professor's lab at the end of the corridor, Saph took a quick peek inside each of the rooms through the small windows embedded in the doors. Strange as it was, they seemed to get emptier as they went along. "God I didn't realise how badly hit these guys were. You would never have known these were laboratory before."

The Doctor turned to her and took a quick glance inside the nearest room and shrugged. "Well economy is trickier then it looks. It's all very well being able to create a new life form and doing the whole Dr. Frankenstein routine, but if you can't pay the rent, then you might as well try something simple and pointless, like the answer to life, the universe and everything. Where's 42 going to get you? Nowhere!" After this odd little speech, the Doctor swivelled back towards their destination, Saph eventually following, trying to work out where she'd heard about 42 and its point in the universe before.

The Doctor pushed the door open impatiently and immediately began searching through the laboratory. Saph swiftly followed him, but she was too busy to search. She merely stood by the door, staring at the room. It was filled with scientific equipment, papers and other such inconvenient objects in inappropriate places. The Doctor noticed this and barked at her over a table packed with test tube racks, filled with test tubes containing different concoctions that produced a smell like burnt toast, "Come on Saph! The fate of the world lies in this room!" He wrinkled his nose, looked down at the test tubes below and gave them a frown of disgust. Saph nodded to the Doctors head, buried amongst cluttered contents and promptly started to search on the other side of the room.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Saph picked up one of the stools littered around the floor and sat on it, her back and neck aching. The Doctor and her had been searching every nook and cranny of the Professors laboratory for a way to defeat the Krynoid for an hour now and they still hadn't covered everywhere yet. While Saph sat on the stool to ease the pain, the Doctor had carried on searching relentlessly. Saph wished she had some of his enthusiasm and energy but despite the frantic situation they were in, Saph just couldn't do any more searching for a while yet. Luckily it seemed she didn't need to, as a loud cry came from under the table Saph presumed the Doctor was under, "Yes! I've found it!" There was a loud bump swiftly followed by furious muttering. As she saw the Doctor rise from underneath the table, rubbing the top of his head, she knew no questions needed to be asked. While he was doing this, he was also holding very tightly to a corked vial of a colourless liquid, with an orange label placed on it. On this label, Saph saw the distinguishable safety symbol for 'Corrosive'.

"So, that's going to stop the Krynoid is it?" asked Saph.

"Yep" answered the Doctor with a grim grin, "Acetic acid, before you ask. As you can see from the label, it is highly corrosive in this state. So it should provide an excellent weapon against that weed out there."

Saph frowned. "But Doctor, are you sure that'll be enough? I mean the Krynoid is rather, large" she sighed, realising what an understatement that was.

Thankfully this did not seem to bother the Doctor, instead twisting around on the spot, searching for something. "Well I have a bad feeling that this is the only sample in here, but, maybe with a bit of chemical manipulation, it should be enough"

While Saph knew she wasn't as good at science as the Doctor clearly was, she didn't want their only weapon to be wasted. "Doctor you're not going to waste this aren't you?" The Doctor span around to face her, a look of confusion spread across his face. "I mean this is our only weapon. It wouldn't bode well if your, experimenting, ruins the effect or something."

The Doctor gave a reassuring smile. "Oh don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Here hold this, while I look for something" As he said this, he passed her the vital vial and shot off somewhere in the laboratory, while Saph stared after him.

Saph stood behind the Doctor, amazed by his work rate and his determination to succeed. He was currently crouched over the table, a number of equipment scattered across it. The now empty vial was among its comrades on a rack, its contents now in a smallish bucket but, as Saph had discovered, was still heavy enough to need two people to carry it. There was also an array of scientific equipment, which Saph hadn't seen since her practical science lessons at secondary school, with which the Doctor was currently using to concoct another liquid that Saph guessed would somehow increase the quantity and quality of the acid or something like that. He had been working for 10 minutes now and Saph was sick of looking frantically at the clock. She knew that time was slowly running out and they had no idea how large the Krynoid was now or how much it had fed, for want of a better word, since they had last seen it. But she also knew that the Doctor knew this too, so she had remained silent, as he had conducted his experiment.

However the Doctor had not. As he had carried out the experiments, he had been accompanied by mutterings of compounds and scientific gobbledygook. Even now he was withering on about some chemical or other. Thankfully, this was interrupted as the Doctor stepped back from the bucket and the equipment keeping it company upon the table and let out an exasperated sigh, "Right, this better work."

Saph was tempted to hug him before realising he had just been handling corrosive chemicals and decided to get on with the job of finally defeating this ugly, great beast once and for all.

Once the Doctor had washed his hands and dusted himself off, he and Saph set about tackling the half-full bucket of vital liquid. After a small discussion over the coordination, they grasped a handle of the bucket each, counted to 3 together and smoothly lifted the bucket. Only to immediately, delicately, place it back down on the table, having underestimated the heaviness of the bucket and it's contents. They tried twice more, finally succeeding in carrying the bucket together, only to realise that they had to open the door. Once they had opened the doors that they would have to go through and used various pieces of now useless scientific equipment as doorstops, they finally made their way outside. There was surprisingly little talk between the two of them; the only time the silence was bought was when one of them asked for a short rest from carrying the bucket. This indeed, showed how determined they were to vanquish the deadly, alien menace. And it wasn't just the obvious threat it posed; there were of course personal reasons too. Saph had lost her boyfriend because of it and the Doctor had faced it previously and thus knew how it could affect and ruin lives. With this determination, the heavy weight was enough to bear in the face of this deadly adversary.

They had no idea how long it had taken them to get down to the hospital, but it felt like a long time and it seemed that the bucket was getting heavier as they went along, even though they both knew that was impossible. When they finally managed to spot the hospital, they both placed the bucket on the ground at the same time, as they stared in shock at the scene in front of them.

A huge crowd was gathered around the hospital, screaming at the giant alien, which was now lazily swinging a long vine at the gathering crowd below but it seemed from their point of view, that it was doing so as if it wasn't trying.

"It's probably resting" muttered the Doctor bitterly and Saph knew immediately what it was resting from. She had felt very lazy previously after a big lunch, and the idea that something not human also having similar reactions was almost comical were it not for the serious situation and the identity of the contents of the 'lu8nch' known.

Luckily, these swarming people were kept a safe distance away from the danger atop the hospital by an array of police, constantly telling to people to be calm and remaining stand fast in their protection of the citizens, either not realising or ignoring that they were in as much danger as the screaming public. But, "There's no military" pondered Saph.

"Yes, I thought that was odd too" said the Doctor.

"Seriously though, there is an alien on top of that hospital that has already killed and is not going to stop and no-ones attacking it, no tanks, no guns, nothing"

"Well I can't say I'm not happy to see any of those but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before U.N.I.T. come storming in. Anyway who needs military? We've got the solution right here!" announced the Doctor. As such, he grabbed his handle of the bucket. Saph eventually tore her eyes away from the panicking scenes and grabbed her handle.

Meanwhile near the entrance of the hospital, the media had come to town and firmly embedded their tents into the ground. They were having a field day reporting the events and increasing the fear of the public with suggestions that there were other sightings of the great beast. As the Doctor and Saph walked by them, he gave them a look of contempt, which they did not see. However this was the least of the Doctor's worries as for the moment there was somewhere they needed to get to.

From their position earlier, the Doctor had spotted a fire engine, using its ladders to rescue the people from the higher floors. It seemed that one of the many appendages of the Krynoid had filled the stairway, trapping the people on each floor, thus making it easier to swoop in and grab them through the windows. While the Doctor commended the attitude of these brave firemen, he needed their help. When they finally reached the fire engine, which was being looked after by a couple of firemen, they placed the bucket on the ground, as the firemen gave them peculiar looks. As the Doctor started speaking, his words did nothing to change their looks, "Hello there! Listen I know you're busy, but in this bucket, my companion and I, well actually it was mainly me…"

"And I'm not his companion" butted in Saph.

The Doctor gave her an odd look before continuing, "Anyway, I have concocted a mixture that can destroy this great big problem and I need your hose to fire said mixture at it."

There was a moment of silence between the two pairs, which was surrounded by the general screaming and yelling that the current situation was generating. Finally one of the firemen stepped towards the Doctor in an intimidating way and told him, "Listen guy. This is a serious situation. People have died. I don't have time to listen to idiots like you trying to give me crap about saving the planet. My advice would be, sir, to kindly leave and let us do our jobs."

But the Doctor would not be threatened and stood firm. "I understand clearly what you are doing and believe me, I know how serious this situation is" He then remained silent for a moment, clearly trying to think of something to say, before sighing and reaching into his pocket, pulled out a wallet. He flicked it open, and saying in a very authoritative voice, "Dr. John Smith and Ms. Sapphire Blume. We're U.N.I.T. and I would advise you to follow my orders precisely if you please."

The effect was immediate. The two firemen immediately straightened up, gave a salute, which looked rather peculiar in their fire fighter uniform. They then picked up the bucket carefully and took it towards the tank that was clearly connected to the hose.

The Doctor let out a miserable sigh.

"What's the matter? They're doing what you asked for aren't they? I have to say that was a neat trick with that wallet thing," asked Saph.

"Physic paper" said the Doctor distractedly, keeping an eye on the firemen and checking that they weren't spilling the valuable mixture, "But I didn't want to use it. The last thing I want is U.N.I.T. thinking I'm willing to work for them again But it seems that even my indisputable charm couldn't help me this time"

Before Saph could argue that last point or ask about this U.N.I.T. that he kept talking about, a military-like cry came from one of the firemen, "Everything's set up, sir!"

The Doctor marched over towards them, hands locked together behind him and his back straight, while Saph followed behind him sniggering at his posture. When they reached them, the Doctor investigated the hose and nodded at it.

"Very good men" he said in a mock military voice. The two firemen looked at him peculiarly. He looked at them, and then looked at Saph, whispering, "Too much?"

"A tad" she swiftly replied.

He nodded in agreement, and then turned back to the two men. "Well, what are you waiting for? Lock, load and fire upon the enemy" He stepped back to leave them to it. As he watched them, he muttered, "I did it again didn't I?"

"Oh yeah" sniggered Saph.

While one of the firemen went around informing the police and the other firemen about what was to happen, the other one called for help with the long hose. Once he received help, they started to aim the hose at the Krynoid, which was starting to come back to life. It's vines straightened out as it prepared to resume its grabbing consumption of earlier. It had no idea of the danger that was threatening it.

The Doctor watched it and gave a grim smile of satisfaction when the command, "Fire!" was unleashed. As the concoction spat out of the hose and hit the creature, a wailing scream resonated throughout the air. A chill went through Saph's entire body as the warbling alien sound penetrated her ears. The effect provided a gruesome sight, as the corrosion of the concoction started to burn away at the Krynoids body. It almost seemed to be melting. Saph looked away at the horrible spectacle, hoping to find the Doctor in a reassuring mood, possibly saddened at the measures that needed to be taken. Instead she saw a man clearly accepting what was happening before his eyes, no hint of remorse in them at all. This image was confirmed with the Doctors short but brutal pronouncement, "No second chances, not for anyone"

It was unclear who the statement was directed at, as the Doctor was busy watching the death of the Krynoid, surrounded by cheers as the menace slowly disintegrated. By the time the Doctor decided to try and comfort Saph about the horrific scenes that had unfolded, she had fled as far as she could from the area. The Doctor could just see her in the distance, no doubt back to her lonely flat. But he wouldn't bother her, not now, she needed time, as they always did. Doubts and possibilities flew around his mind; it was all very well knowing now wasn't the time to ask, but when would it be? Sighing, he decided a good walk around the TARDIS would sort out his thoughts. Now all he needed to do was to remember where he'd parked it.


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue

His footsteps rang around the walls of yet another long corridor of the TARDIS. It was strange. Even though he was a Time Lord, he never really knew what the time was. Time was merely the progression of events and if you wanted to, you could measure the length it took to get from one event to another. They could go by in the blink of an eye or stretch on forever. Anyway, he knew one thing; he had spent too long wondering around this wonderful old ship of his. It was time for action.

He started to make his way back to the console room, briefly stopping by the room formerly used as her bedroom, before ploughing through the memories. It was odd that he had already made his decision when he'd given a few moments to let him think over his choices. But he had still decided to go on a pointless walk around the TARDIS, while his mind provided many a reason to cancel his idea, which he promptly answered with logical responses. He had finally decided to pick up those thoughts and find out what the hell was going to happen, damn the consequences.

He rubbed his hands through his hair in a reassuring manner, before he lent over the levers on the console and tried to remember where he needed to go.

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The phone complained angrily as Saph slammed it down into its position. She ignored it and instead took a sip of her cold cup of tea to calm her down. Instead it infuriated her even more; she had just got out of a conversation of an incredibly annoying woman who had been complaining bitterly about Saph and her place of employment, while her tea had sat there waiting to be drunk, before the taste eventually disappeared with the heat. As she thought about it, it wasn't so much a conversation as an incredibly loud soliloquy about the life of an employee of a call centre, as seen through the eyes of a woman too busy to talk to inconsiderate people desperate to offload products that she owned already. It didn't help that June was off sick too, so she had no one that she'd be willing to complain to. She gazed out the window distractedly, watching people carrying on with their lives, running about without a care in the world. It didn't seem like it had nearly ended. One month, just one, that's all it took for people to recover and forget, in that order, all about the devastating events that had occurred at the hospital, which was now up and running again, as if nothing had happened. But she knew and she wouldn't forget, even if everyone else did. She saved the world. Well she had a hand in it anyway.

And that brought her thoughts onto the Doctor. She hadn't seen him since she'd run away that day. Her thoughts weren't exactly haunted by his image but every now and again he flicked into her memories. It all felt so dreamlike, bumping into him in the street, bumping into him again near her flat, talking about aliens and boyfriends to an alien, then watching him talking to another, helping him save the world.

She sighed. The way things seemed at the moment it all seemed like a dream. If that was true, then she must have been dreaming right know in fact, because she could see him now, standing by a blue box looking up and down the surrounding buildings, searching for something.

Then the phone rang.

And he was still there.

She leapt up from her seat, brushed past Nicks cubicle, saying carelessly, "Nick I'm taking a break OK?" She knew they didn't have breaks, especially with the phone ringing and she knew he knew, but she didn't care. She had to know, she had to check that it wasn't a dream, that the most astonishing days of her life hadn't been a dream.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite the long period of time since they had last seen each other, Saph was surprised to see a delighted look of recognition as she pushed her way through the crowd into his view. He spread his arms out, preparing for a hug, instead his hand found contacted with Saph's as they engaged in a fierce handshake. As soon as they finished, there was a moment of silence between them, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the people around them.

"So," asked the Doctor, breaking the ice and the silence, "how are you?"

Saph looked down at her feet. "Good thanks. You?"

A shy smile crept over the Doctors face. "Not bad."

Deciding to cut to the chase, Saph asked, slightly accusingly, "Why have you come back? There isn't another one of those Krynoids is there?"

"No no no." the Doctor said reassuringly, "I just popped in to see how you were doing. After everything"

Saph nodded. "So it wasn't a dream?"

The Doctor shook his head, a sheepish smile on his face. "Afraid not"

Saph gave a reassuring grin. "I thought so. It's just, everyone's acting so normal, like nothing happened"

The Doctor looked at the people around them as he commented, "Yes. It's incredibly remarkable how you humans can ignore the totally obvious. I mean a celebrity dies and you're all talking about it till the following year, like it's such a remarkable event but when something truly astonishing happens, like an alien invasion occurs, you treat it like a, like an…"

"Unremarkable event?" she giggled, as the Doctor chased the end of the sentence.

"Yeah" he admitted. He looked down at her with a big grin on his face. "But you clearly haven't"

"Well I doubt many people would forget the day they saved the world"  
"Too true, too true" the Doctor said wistfully.

Suddenly Saph noticed the tall blue box behind the Doctor. "Why are we standing outside a," she looked up at the sign above the doors, "Police Public Call Box?"

The Doctor looked behind him lovingly at it. "Well its my ship, aren't you girl?" He gave it a delicate tap.

Saph gave him a look that clearly said 'Are you insane?' Her tone suggested this also, "Your ship? Your ship is a box?"  
The Doctor smiled at her, like a teacher would to a young child when they got a question wrong. "No. That's just the outside. Inside, it's nothing like any box I've seen and I bet you'll see either."  
"What are you talking about?" Saph asked confusedly.

"This" As he said this, he flung the doors open to reveal the majesty inside. Shock flooded through Saph's body, as she somehow managed to see a large green room with a strange looking console in the middle of it.

"Have a look inside if you want." came a reassuring voice. Gradually, Saph staggered inside.

Saph looked around the impossible room in awe. She was surrounded by wonderful coral-like walls that provided an eerie but beautiful green glow. There was an even more prominent green glow coming from a circular console, covered with many controls. From levers to hand-cranks, spinning discs and screens, Saph couldn't quite comprehend the task of being able to understand how everything worked.

She leapt in the air as the doors slammed and the Doctor reminded her that he was there. "Beautiful isn't she?" he murmured placing an arm around her shoulders.

Saph struggled for words but the Doctor only needed to look at her to receive an answer.

"As you've probably realised, the TARDIS, as she's called, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, is bigger on the inside. Too big if I'm really honest, or at least too big for one man."

The Doctor took a deep breath, while Saph tore her eyes away from the beautiful place she was in, as she started to realise what all this was leading to.

He had been anticipating this moment since she had stepped inside and despite having experienced this moment a number of times, now he felt nervous. Why? Maybe because he didn't want to lose someone again, maybe he was out of practice, maybe he was having doubts. No, he didn't and he knew it. He also knew the silence of apprehension had gone on too long and decided to fill it with well-chosen words.

"So, um, yes, well. I wondered if you would like to join me. Experience the delights of travelling in time and space. We could go, well anywhere and anywhen for that matter. So what do you think?"

Saph put her hand on the console, careful not to lean on a switch or something. "Is it always this dangerous?"

The Doctors hopeful smile fell off his face and he turned towards one of the screens, replying "Unfortunately so"

Saph noticed this. She could really see the Doctor now: a lonely man, having to shoulder the responsibility of looking after the universe. Her reply was partly out of sympathy but it was rue also: "Well there was a certain thrill"

The Doctor looked up, clearly surprised, producing a smile from the young girl in front of him. "I'm sorry?"

"You know, the kind of thrill you only get when you know your life's on the line"

"Yeah. Wonderful isn't it?" said the Doctor gleefully.

"Well I wouldn't say that. But it was, enjoyable"

"Sure" His eyes stated to light up like an excited puppy dog, as he asked, "So?"  
Saph looked at his eyes and they both knew there was only one answer she could give. "So, I'm on break at the moment. Might as well put it to good use"

The Doctor burst out into joyous laughter and raced towards her. A look of fear hit her face until the Doctor picked up and swung her around, accompanied by uproarious laughter.

Once the Doctor pulled himself together, he asked Saph an important question, "So where do you want to go? Past, future? Earth, Mars, Via? Come on, you're choice"  
Saph tilted her head to the side as she thought. It was harder then she thought, being able to think of somewhere to go in a ship that could apparently go anywhere. Eventually she decided with a grin, "Surprise me"

The Doctor returned her grin. "Brilliant. I love surprises." Once he said this, he started running around the console, flicking switches, pulling levers and checking the screens for any problems. Once he'd finished, he arrived next to Saph, his finger hovering above a small black button. "The random navigation generator. Press this button and it will set random co-ordinates that could take us, well, anywhere"  
She had to ask. "It can seriously go anywhere and" she grinned, "anywhen?"

The Doctors grin grew. "Of course" His finger left its position over the button. "After you" he asked.

Excitedly and without hesitation, Saph pressed it. The force that went through the TARDIS and the noise like a slow churning threw Saph backwards. She quickly regained her balance and managed to recover her thoughts. It was definitely not what she had expected and was suddenly scared about what she'd gotten herself into.

The Doctor didn't provide a very reassuring attitude either, cackling with laughter and whooping, "Off we go" as they shot through the dimensions of time and space.

* * *

_So off they go. And they and I are wondering is there a future for us. I'm willing to write more and if you wish the adventures of the Doctor and Saph to continue, then I warn you there may be quite a long period of time before their next adventure, as I need to get on with some much put-off coursework :P_

_Thanks so much for reading. Ta ra for now.  
_


End file.
